Tips, dollars, laws and cooperation protect S.C. post-9/11

Sarita Chourey

Wednesday

Sep 7, 2011 at 12:11 AM

COLUMBIA — It happens about once a week: Someone sees something unsettling and reports it to South Carolina law enforcement.

The tips come from citizens and government officials and may be about an individual who was photographing a nuclear facility, airport or dam. Or they may be about a vehicle whose driver was acting suspiciously, said Mark Keel, chief of the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division, in an interview Thursday.

That process — and evolving vigilance - is one of the most significant ways South Carolina post-9/11 is different from the era before the terrorist attacks, he said.

The tips and other information are typically part of a daily bulletin that is emailed to government officials across the state from SLED’s Columbia-based “fusion center.” The state fusion center, one of 72 counterterrorism facilities nationwide, consists of investigators across agencies working together and sharing information about possible threats. Keel declined to say how many officials made up the fusion center, citing security sensitivity, but noted that they partner with FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials.

The annual total started with $15 million, peaked at nearly $50 million in 2009 and tapered to about $13 million this year, according to DHS, which was created in response to the the 9/11 attacks. Grants were for state domestic preparedness, ports and transit security, among other categories.

“When I first started in law enforcement in 1979, nobody would have considered every police officer, fireman, and every EMS in the state to be carrying personal protection equipment around in the trunk of their car, where you’ve got a gas mask, protective suit, protective boots, the whole nine yards, to help you if you run into a chemical or biological situation,” said Keel.

But now, he said, the workers have the gear, thanks to DHS funding.While the federal grants have funded security measures, another defining element of post-9/11 efforts have been the new cooperative and overlapping approach to law enforcement.

Security authorities exercised the new “unified command” response to crises in 2005. That was when a Norfolk Southern Corp. train transporting 250 tons of chlorine crashed in Graniteville killing nine people and sickening hundreds.

“Everybody is sitting in a room making decisions, with each one with their own expertise on how we manage and mitigate a situation,” said Keel.

“We’d sit together in a room in Aiken with leadership,” he added, listing emergency and fire emergency responders, staff from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, and others.

Among agencies plugged into the South Carolina fusion center is the S.C. Bureau of Protective Services, said Chief Zackary Wise. On Friday he said there has been no overhaul of capitol security procedures nor staff surge at the S.C. State House and surrounding buildings in the 10 years since the terrorist attacks.

Wise stressed the balance between keeping the area safe but also preventing the complex from becoming “an armed camp.” He pointed to strategic buffer shrubbery and physical barriers over the years as a measure to keep vehicles at a safe distance from the buildings. Other than that, said Wise, “It’s pretty much the same. We try to stay very vigilant with regard to people coming in.”

Two hours south, however, enormous resources have been focused on the S.C. State Ports Authority, where the U.S. Coast Guard is the chief federal agency overseeing security. The ports authority had to meet federal security mandates and spent more than $24 million in federal grants and its own matching funds. Measures included closed-circuit TV surveillance, perimeter security and tighter systems to control who gains access to facilities.

Although the ports authority already had an ID badge program before the attacks, a new system has been put in place — the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). Last year in Charleston alone more than 8,000 TWIC cards, which are the national port ID badge for personnel, were issued, according to SCSPA.

In addition, the port police force has grown from 48 officers to 72, in order to take on the heightened security efforts. The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2004 requires the SCSPA to operate a 24-hour dispatch, provide new screening and security training, and ramp up the protection of high traffic gates, according to SCSPA.

Reach Sarita Chourey at sarita.chourey@morris.com or 803-727-4257.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.